Sadistic burglar mercilessly beat elderly couple to death, court told

An elderly married couple were "mercilessly, sadistically and brutally" murdered by a burglar who entered their house through a skylight during the night, a court heard today.

Retired drayman Terry Martin, 72, and wife Vera, 78, who had been married for more than 40-years, were "ferociously beaten, kicked, stamped, punched and repeatedly stabbed" by the son of a long-standing friend, Maidstone Crown Court was told.

As they lay dying, he ransacked their terrace period house in the middle of a quiet residential street in Faversham, Kent, where Mrs Martin was born, for money and valuables, prosecutor Simon Russell-Flint QC said.

When he finished, he "casually" left the house by the front door, stole the Martins' car and "drove away into the night leaving his victims to die", it was alleged.

Four days later, on January 25, Terry's sister, worried that she had not heard from the couple for some time, went to their home and found their "bloodied and battered bodies" on the floor of the front room.

The lounge, dining room, stairwell and both front and back bedrooms were extensively bloodstained, the jury heard.

Brett Clifton, 22, who the court heard went to the Martin's address a month earlier to do some roof repairs with his father, denies two counts of murder.

Opening his case for the Crown, Mr Russell-Flint QC, said: "During the night of Saturday January 21, a burglar climbed on to the roof of a house in the middle of a quiet residential street in the town of Faversham.

"The house was the home of Mr and Mrs Terry and Vera Martin, a long married couple each of whom was aged in their 70s, and each of whom was present in the house when the burglar entered their premises through an upstairs skylight window.

"Mrs Martin was already in her bed. Mr Martin was probably downstairs. As was his custom, he may have been sitting alone in the dark.

"The intruder made his way downstairs in that darkened house and when he got downstairs he encountered Mr Martin. At some stage, tragically for her, Mrs Martin also came downstairs."

The barrister continued: "The burglar when encountering the Martins, didn't just flee...instead he reacted to being discovered by cruelly murdering this elderly couple.

"Both Mr and Mrs Martin were ferociously beaten, they were kicked, they were stamped, they were punched and each of them was repeatedly stabbed.

"It was, from any view, a merciless, sadistic and brutal attack which left them unconscious, bleeding and dying on the floor.

"As each lay dying in his presence, the intruder set about ransacking the house for money and other valuables.

"When he finished he casually left through the front door, taking with him their car keys, he stole the car and drove away into the night leaving his victims to die."

Mr Russell-Flint said a large part of the bloodstaining was found in the front room where the couple was killed but he said part of their blood also got onto the hands and footwear of their murderer.

"As the murderer ransacked the house looking for property to steal he left their blood in numerous locations," he said.

"The murderer also left some of his own blood. It seems that he had been scratched during the course of the attack and that scratch had bled."